What's in a name
by Mitsuko Soma
Summary: One morning when nothing goes according to plan. Pepper tries to give Tony a present, but ends up giving it to Steve instead.


Disclaimer: The Avengers © belongs to Marvel and Disney. This story is non-profit.

This was a Christmas present for Bombshell1701, I never actually thought I'd post this, but then she requested it. Despite the fact that it's meant to be holiday themed it isn't exactly drenched in Christmas spirit, it's more of a general fluffy moment between the Captain and Pepper. Oh and Tony's being an ass.

**What's in a name **

"What's wrong?"

Pepper put down the shopping bag she was carrying and looked at her clownishly displeased boyfriend. A downside to Tony was that being raised without want of anything had left certain aspects of his personality in a perpetually infantilized state, and a downside to all womankind was the innate desire to take care of infantile men.

"Can I get you anything?"

Tony who had been frowning at the TV for a while finally decided to acknowledge her presence.

"Why yes you can," he chirped and his voice filled with irony" you can get Captain The-90s-Were-_Never_-Cool to STOP THIS!" he yelled and spread his arms in exasperation. Under normal circumstances Pepper would have been fuming for being treated in this way, and by Tony of all people, but in this case she suddenly became aware of something which otherwise would have drawn her attention upon entering the apartment.

A strong thudding sound was coming from the floor below; being so used to Tony blasting 70s rock bands she had completely ignored it. She, _the_ Pepper Pots, the one who had once found a miscalculation in her future employer's paperwork, which eventually led her to become the CEO of one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world, had overlooked the insane racket coming from just under her feet.

'_Well maybe I'm the faggot America.  
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.  
Now everybody do the propaganda.  
And sing along to the age of paranoia.'_

"As you can tell, dear friend Rogers" said Tony in his best impersonation of Thor," has made the untimely discovery of iTunes and Green Day, on Christmas morning…" he continued practically seeding with anger.

"While you're still hungover."

"While I'm still hungover."

She didn't want to deal with this which meant that she knew she had to deal with this.

After all it came with the territory, i.e. being Tony's girlfriend, she'd have to go downstairs and explain to that nice boy why he couldn't be excited about his new discovery because his upstairs landlord had issues he liked to deal with by getting batshit wasted. But then an idea formed in her mind.

"Don't worry, I'll see to it." She said and grabbed the shopping bag.

"Thank you!"came Tony's lazy reply as she made her way to the elevator. Inside she rummaged in the bag and pulled out a red card, which she then slipped into her pocket. The doors opened and she walked down the corridor to Steve's apartment. She cleared her throat and patted her hair, checking for anything out of place. The Captain always made her feel like a first grader who had been just called to the blackboard.

She rang. The door opened and she looked up at the Captain, in his gym clothes, and a big smile spread across his face. She didn't know whether she wanted to adopt or marry him.

"Pepper!"

"Hey!" she mimicked his smile.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas Cap." That was what Tony called him, but she felt she wanted to familiarize and for some reason his actual name seemed much too formal for that.

"Come in" he gestured for her to enter.

"Thank you," she made a few steps and entered the apartment. The sound, while bearable in the corridor made her ears scream with pain once inside. She covered them and Steve hurried to the sound system. In a moment the world stopped screaming at her and she felt it safe to remove her hands from her ears.

"Sorry about that, I guess it's a bit too much for normal people" She loved how uncomfortable he looked when he made comparisons between himself and other people. She needed to find him a girl, ASAP! Having him remain single was a crime against humanity.

"No, actually yes; the sound's not the problem, it's Tony."

"What's wrong?" and that was genuine concern on his face, he wasn't just asking out of politeness.

"He got drunk last night."

He looked away knowingly.

"And the music's messing with his head." She added.

"I thought he liked loud things."

"He does, but not when he's like this, especially during the holidays. Give him some quiet time. Oh, and here," she passed him the bag.

"Oh, wow, thank you" his eyebrows rose as he tried not to look too excited. He pulled out a box from the bag with headphones on the cover.

"These are headphones, you plug them in the stereo and can listen to music as loud as you want, Tony won't hear a thing."

"Thanks." He flashed another smile.

She allowed herself to look at him for a moment longer as he smiled at her. Damn it, why did she have to be in love with the impossible asshole upstairs.

"I actually got you something as well."

_And_ he's on a horse*.

Steve left the box with the headphones on the couch and headed into the other room. He came back with a medium-sized package in one hand which he handed to her.

"Oh, thank you!" she really couldn't hide her excitement. She was receiving a present from Captain America, that's the sort of thing people wrote about in their autobiographies. She unwrapped it, trying not to look as if this was the first time she was receiving a present. It was a large black organizer. It wasn't the most original gift; actually she'd had so many of these over the years she'd grown sick of them. Then suddenly he reached out and opened the organizer. On the first page in bold print it read _**"Pepper to the RESQUE"**_ and she felt like crying.

It was a private joke of sorts, Rhody had made a while ago and everyone else had picked up on. The captain himself had on exactly four occasions told Pepper that she had saved him. The circumstances didn't matter; it was how honest he looked while saying it. The only man who'd ever flattered her that much was Tony.

"Yeah, I don't know why they spelled it like this, the people at the store might have misread my handwriting, I should really use longhand." She then realized that instead of looking excited she probably looked depressed and that was worrying him.

"No, no, it's… I'm touched." She said and pressed a palm to her chest.

His lips formed a soft smile.

"So, coffee? I finally worked out how to use the coffeemaker."

"Sure." She said and followed him into the kitchen.

*ref. Old Spice add – The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (look it up on YouTube)


End file.
